Arch Linux

Ron74

Member

Registered: 2010-01-24

Posts: 31

[SOLVED] Dual Monitor Problems

Please excuse if I placed this in wrong category. 

I'm using a  ASUS P4 board with no onboard video.  Two old nVidia cards, AGP and PCI are connected, to a couple of ViewSonic 19" CRTs.  I have used this hardware for several years with FreeBSD and Debian Lenny, dual monitors with no problems until the more recent versions of Xorg and the hotplugging stuff.  The computer I'm using to post this is an older MSI Celeron, one monitor, Arch Linux no problems. 

The ASUX box where I have been trying to install Dual monitors on is probably buggered up by now, so I'm going to wipe the drive and do a reinstall up to the point of installing Xorg.

Question:  Is it possible to install and use an older version of Xorg? I've read the Beginner's Guide, the Wiki, and Googled myself silly, but I can't get the new Xorg working with dual monitors.

Last edited by Ron74 (2011-05-31 15:59:19)

tom5760

Member

From: Philadelphia, PA, USA

Registered: 2006-02-05

Posts: 283

Website

Re: [SOLVED] Dual Monitor Problems

Are you using nVidia's proprietary drivers?  If so, you need to use their nvidia-settings tool to configure multiple monitors.  Also, the newer nVidia drivers may not support older cards.  You may have better luck trying out the opensource drivers (http://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Nouveau).  This way, you can just configure them with xrandr.

EDIT: Also see this news item for why you might not be able to get the older drivers working in new Xorgs.

Last edited by tom5760 (2011-05-22 17:39:52)

Ron74

Member

Registered: 2010-01-24

Posts: 31

Re: [SOLVED] Dual Monitor Problems

Are you using nVidia's proprietary drivers?  If so, you need to use their nvidia-settings tool to configure multiple monitors.  Also, the newer nVidia drivers may not support older cards.  You may have better luck trying out the opensource drivers (http://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Nouveau).  This way, you can just configure them with xrandr.

EDIT: Also see this news item for why you might not be able to get the older drivers working in new Xorgs.

I'm using nv driver.  Have also used vesa.  I can get output to both monitors with an xorg.conf file using xinerama.  I have to specify monitor 1 to the left of monitor 0 because  Xorg confuses the positions. (the cards are configured correctly in the bios, and CLI works correctly) I can get the keyboard and mouse to work, but if I move the mouse to screen edge, it freezes there and the computer hangs requiring a reboot. To avoid window manager problems, I'm simply using TWM with an xterm.  What I've read about using xrandr in the .xinitrc file doesn't help. The wiki refers to a 10-xorg.conf file being made, but I haven't a clue about this.

tom5760

Member

From: Philadelphia, PA, USA

Registered: 2006-02-05

Posts: 283

Website

Re: [SOLVED] Dual Monitor Problems

I'd try removing the nv and vesa drivers, removing (or moving) your /etc/Xorg.conf, install the xf86-video-nouveau package, and create a config file as specified in https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/No … figuration

After this, if X starts successfully, check the output of "xrandr".  To use dual monitors, try a command similar to:

xrandr --output VGA2 --left-of VGA1

Where VGA1, etc is output devices shown in xrandr.

ConnorBehan

Package Maintainer (PM)

From: Long Island NY

Registered: 2007-07-05

Posts: 1,359

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Re: [SOLVED] Dual Monitor Problems

Setting up dual monitors with xrandr is unlikely to work as described in this thread because you have multiple cards, not just one. It should be possible to use xinerama with either nv or nouveau but I could see it being buggy.

It seems you are caught in a transition period where the Xorg people are phasing out various code before the code to replace it is mature enough. That happened to me a few years ago and I just had to be patient :S.

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tom5760

Member

From: Philadelphia, PA, USA

Registered: 2006-02-05

Posts: 283

Website

Re: [SOLVED] Dual Monitor Problems

Oh, I didn't notice that you had two cards.  Whoops!  Yeah, you'll need to use xinerama.

Ron74

Member

Registered: 2010-01-24

Posts: 31

Re: [SOLVED] Dual Monitor Problems

Setting up dual monitors with xrandr is unlikely to work as described in this thread because you have multiple cards, not just one. It should be possible to use xinerama with either nv or nouveau but I could see it being buggy.

It seems you are caught in a transition period where the Xorg people are phasing out various code before the code to replace it is mature enough. That happened to me a few years ago and I just had to be patient :S.

Yes, apparently two video cards are out with xrandr. And, I believe xorg has become buggy.  Eg - I have Debian 5 (Lenny) running on this machine with dual monitors set up the old way with an xorg.conf file with xinerama.  But, when I try to install Debian 6, it gets weird.  Before I even try to configure or start X, the video switches from monitor 0 to monitor 1 with a flashing yellow matted output. Of course the computer then hangs, requiring a reboot.  I have ordered an old nvidia dual VGA card - Quadro NVS 280 AGP.  If this doesn't work, one way or another, I give up.  Although there might not be a solution, I'll mark this solved. Thanks for the replies.